The mobility and exercise ability of persons who have suffered damage to the ligaments of the knee can be substantially improved by knee braces which hold the tibia and fibula on one hand, and the femur on the other hand, against relative front-to-back motion while allowing the knee to bend.
Conventional knee braces have a rigid frame which includes a rigid femoral cuff attached to the front and sides of the thigh, and a rigid tibial cuff attached to the front and sides of the calf. The femoral cuff and tibial cuff are connected by a rigid, hinged linkage system on each side of the knee whose pivot axis coincides with the center of condyle, i.e. the axis about which the tibia pivots with respect to the femur when the knee is flexed in normal motion.
The above-described conventional braces have three disadvantages: they are relatively heavy; they are expensive; they have to be custom-fitted; and they are awkward to carry or store. Also, when some of the ligaments are still functional, the rigid support provided by conventional braces is not absolutely necessary. In that situation, another conventional knee support is a chloroprene stocking which is flexible but sufficiently firm to maintain the alignment of the femur and tibia against minor stresses. The neoprene stocking has the advantage of being inexpensive and lighter, cooler and more breathable than the rigid braces, but its applicability is limited, particularly if the patient engages in sports or other stressful activity.
A need consequently exists for an inexpensive, off-the-shelf knee bracing system which combines the strength of the rigid braces with the advantages of the chloroprene stocking for patients who need substantial bracing but still have some ligament functionality.